Psyche
by Lizz733
Summary: Ever wonder what it's like in Zim's head? Dib gets the idea to go in there and mess things up, but just what is he getting himself in to?
1. Zim's Brain on Dib

**Psyche**

**Hah! Well, I can honestly say this one is finished from the get go! Yup! Its ending is already written! I consider this loose cannon… though since we're seeing events as they're depicted in the head of an insane person it can be either. **

**DISCLAIMER: These characters have been disclaimed!**

**Anyway on with the story… Happy brain probing Psyche Cadet!**

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><p><strong>INT: ZIMS BASE<strong>

Deep in the bowels of the earth... under several layers of sedimentary crust and grime lies the layer of a most sinister creature, a being not of this world!

Carefully, he wove the intricate wires of machinery together hopeful that this would be his most successful creation yet! Suddenly, the sound of metal clanging in the distance drew his attention. At first, he thought it must be the disturbing antics of his defunct servant, Gir, but then his paranoia drew him to take a glance to where the noise had emanated... And standing there in the shadows was none other than his mortal enemy Dib!

The alien yelped in surprise as he realized his nemesis had managed to sneak up upon him at such a vulnerable time. His stress peaking, Zim shot out his pak legs in defense and took to the air.

"You can't escape me this time, Zim!" The large headed boy exclaimed as he slid across the shiny pink linoleum of Zim's inner lair, halting in front of the looming creature.

"Or so you would think!" Zim snapped in response, swiping a metallic appendage forward with a 'hah!'

"Joke's on you! I came prepared!" The boy exclaimed while holding up a small blue wooden door that looked like it belonged to a child's play house. "That psychonaut cadet kit I ordered online finally arrived and with it I will defeat you from the inside out!"

Zim looked at the model in his nemesis's had for just a few moments before bursting out into laughter. His pak legs plunged back into him as he landed on the floor, gripping his stomach in glee.

"That play toy is no threat to Zim! Be gone with you!" he exclaimed, swatting at the boy with his eyes closed in supremacy.

Seeing his opening, Dib threw the door forward. "Hahah!" He exclaimed as the item slammed into the alien's cranium with a smack.

"Hu, eh… aah!" Zim yelped as the door on his head creaked open.

Dib chuckled to himself before he realized he was being sucked in and tried to brace himself for landing. Behind him, he heard the door slam shut as, yelling, he spiraled off into darkness.

**INT: Zim's mind**

It was a hard landing despite his best efforts and Dib stumbled sheepishly to his feet. Somewhere above him, a spotlight hung in the darkness and illuminated the black floor around him. Fearing for a moment that he'd be trapped in darkness forever, Dib frantically looked around until his eyes fell on a figure crouched over ahead of him.

"Uhm, hello?" Dib queried when he didn't immediately recognize the monochromatic figure.

In response, the creature turned its head slightly, revealing a pair of angled antennae and one large round eye.

"Zim?" Dib recognized immediately as the creature slowly stood and looked to him.

"What are you… doing here?" The greyed out figure asked with a cock of the head.

"This is your head Zim! I've infiltrated it and I'm prepared to…" Dib trailed off as he observed the creature taking in its surroundings and ignoring him in the process. "Hey! Aren't you going to try to stop me or something?" Dib started, when the sound of a large light flickering on made him cringe. In the distance, an oversized red spotlight raced towards them, bathing the unnatural Zim in its hue.

"**You die here****…" **he suddenly seemed to seethe, turning to look at the intruder.** "****Haha****!" **the red Zim shouted, springing forward on spindly metallic legs.

"Wah!" Dib yelped, backing up frantically as the enraged irken landed in front of him. Plunging into darkness, Dib began to run away from his foe, fearing for his life.

"**You can't outrun me****…" **He heard Zim's psychotic tinged voice call after him as the scuttling of spider legs echoed all around.** "****I will catch you and then I'll rip of your gigantic head****!" **

"Aaaah! No nyah!" Dib shrieked as he dashed off into the darkness, daring a peek over his shoulder at the advancing irken. Weighing his options, Dib quickly ducked to the ground as Zim closed in.

Having been caught off guard by the sudden change in velocity, Zim miscalculated and tripped over the huddled figure, sending him crashing into the ground and rolling away as the red beam faded away and blackness surrounded him.

Dib winced and rubbed the spot where the metallic appendage had slammed into him as he slowly came to stand. Ahead of him, he began to hear the sound of light sobbing. Slowly, a blue light faded into view, bathing Zim in its fluorescence.

"Failure… always a failure…" he heard the alien mumble from where he lay, stomach pressed to the ground with only his elbows keeping his head from the ground.

Nervously, Dib began to approach his nemesis. "Zim?" he called out to the sobbing creature.

"Will nothing I do ever be right again? This is the fate I have been bestowed…" A pang of guilt struck Dib as he watched the pathetic form slowly come to a stand, clutching its stomach in sorrow.

"Uhm…" Dib stated as he came up to his enemy, but was startled as the light shifted back to a hard white beam and Zim was staring at him hollowly.

"You should go Dib… this place isn't safe with you here." The monotone Zim announced, straightening. "It's not normally so…" he glanced about into the darkness. "unpredictable."

In the distance, the sound of a light switching on echoed… followed by another … and another…

"What?" Dib exclaimed as the spotlights circled like sharks… closing in on them with every oscillation. Even the grey Zim seemed nervous as the two edged in back to back, watching the myriad of primary colors close in with increasing speed.

Zim squeezed his eyes shut as Dib winced. The colors all came together, centralizing themselves around Zim and suddenly the floor funneled out underneath them. Yelling in unison, Dib and Zim, now restored to his normal palate, plunged past the darkness and landed in a world that was neither lacking in color or light...

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><p><strong>Ooo <strong>

**Expect weekly updates folks! **

**Chao for now!  
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	2. Of Rampaging Figments

**Psyche**

**And here we have another chapter for you all! **

**Once again, I disclaim the characters herein. They are not mine; this is a non-profit fictionalization!**

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><p><strong>Last time...<strong>_  
><em>

_Zim squeezed his eyes shut as Dib winced. The colors all came together, centralizing themselves around Zim and suddenly the floor funneled out underneath them. Yelling in unison, Dib and Zim, now restored to his normal palate, plunged past the darkness and landed in a world that was neither lacking in color or light..._

_**And now, the continuation... **_

_ **Of Rampaging Figments**  
><em>

Around them, tall buildings jutted up in odd fluid geometry. The streets and skies seemed bathed in varying degrees of pink and purple hues and all around them, shadows in the shape of other Irkens paraded down the streets and across the buildings in disregard to the two intruders.

"What have you done to me Dib?" Zim yelped as he looked around in apprehension. "Nonono! I don't want to be here… not Here!"

"Where are we Zim?" Dib exclaimed, turning on the alien in confusion.

"The beginning…"

Suddenly, a giant lumbering Cthulhu creature stepped into view and the shadowed Irkens scattered all about as silent screams filled the air.

"Aw man! What is that thing?" Dib exclaimed, pointing at the creature.

"Nonono! You ruined my life!" Zim yelped, taking to his spider legs and ascending the buildings to reach the creature as it swiped handfuls of shadows into its gaping maw underneath a swathe of tentacles. Two particular screams seemed to Dib that they rang out louder than any others… one was definitely female and the other male.

Balancing himself atop a spiked flag, Zim swatted at the monster with his hands and unhindered metallic appendage. "Go away! Just go!"

Dib watched in awe as the Godzilla sized behemoth simply quirked its head at the invader and roared in … frustration? Zim continued to shout from stories above him and Dib felt powerless to do anything against the monster. So he looked for a way to get to Zim.

With a growl, the creature turned from Zim and began shoving over buildings in a tantrum.

"Noooooo…" The yell gave out to Zim's sadness as tears began to brim in his eyes. As his grip on the pole gave out, Zim slid down accompanied by the sound of chalk on a blackboard as his legs scraped their way down the metal. He slumped forward on the roof as the monster continued to rampage about in the distance.

Reaching the interior of the hollow alien spire, Dib suddenly felt the floor shift and begin to rise for him… leading him upward to the roof. As the floors swiftly flashed by, Dib felt himself grow woozy and become surrounded in darkness once again.

This time, instead of Zim… he saw pictures hanging in space… each one seemed like a child's drawing… all in black and white… depicting some sort of story.

The first was of a young Zim, grinning up happily while holding a leash which led down to a small blobish version of the Cthulhu monster he'd seen before.

The second was of Zim's shock as the creature grew large, breaking its leash and devouring an extremely tall female Irken who was dressed like one of Zim's leaders.

The third showed the creature having burst from the building and devouring another male tallest who was screaming and clutching to the remains of the structure in a vain attempt to save himself.

As soon as he'd taken in the images, they disappeared from sight and once again, the snap of a light brought to attention the blue doused Irken just a few feet away.

"What was that… a memory?" Dib asked, looking to Zim in confusion.

The figure sat limply on his knees staring through the floor in dejection. "My failure…" Zim stated, looking to Dib with a pained expression on his face. "You weren't supposed to see… that." Zim sighed heavily, once again casting his gaze downward.

"You had a pet Cthulhu that killed two of your leaders?"

Zim winced at the statement then suddenly snapped up confused, the light shifting to white once again. "Wait… what's a thhhhhhh… Hulu?" he asked in genuine puzzlement.

"You know what… never mind. Maybe I should just get out of here." Dib stated, taking a few glances about.

Zim stood slowly, a hand to his head. "I haven't… thought about these things in… well... I never…" Zim paused to squint at Dib, but not in malice. "Your being here is stirring up things… things long forgotten and ignored."

"Sure well if you'll just point me to the nearest exit…"

"Don't you know how to leave?" Zim asked, looking a bit confused. "I sure don't know how to… oh look it's another light!" Zim pointed away from them and, sure enough… another light blared forward… and another… and another…

"Great!" Dib face-palmed in preparation for the inevitable flush down memory lane as the lights spun closer. Zim seemed unaffected by the light's presence until they'd restored his color and the ground had disappeared again… then he yelled.

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><p><strong>And that wraps up another chapter! Thanks to everyone who reviewed and came back for more stu<strong>**ff. You can expect a new chapter next weekend!**


	3. I Like Exploding

**Psyche**

**You can has more IZ goodness!**

**Thank you to everyone whose been keeping up with me this far, especially my lovely reviewers!**

**Remember, this is supposed to be a slight AU, in that he wasn't 'broken' until after the tallests' deaths... and we are in Zim's SUB-conscious... so the way he reacts to events in this fic (as well as how they are depicted) are not supposed to be reflective of the waking world or how he reacted to them at the time. It's like Dib's bypassed Zim's natural defense that he built up to deal with the traumatic event and is forcing him to become aware of things this 'mechanism' was shielding him from. Don't worry... a mind can only take so much before it falls back on old habits!  
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**I disclaim the claiming of anything herein that someone might otherwise believe me able to claim.  
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><p><strong>Last time...<strong>_  
><em>

_"Great!" Dib face-palmed in preparation for the inevitable flush down memory lane as the lights spun closer. Zim seemed unaffected by the light's presence until they'd restored his color and the ground had disappeared again… then he yelled._

_**And now, the continuation...**_

_**I Like Exploding**_

"Aaaaah!" Zim shrieked as they fell. "I don't want to relive another memory. I don't want to have to face another… rrrrRRR…Dib!" Zim exclaimed, grabbing him roughly by the collar. "Get out of my head!"

As they landed the scene seemed to paint itself into view, but unlike the previously more structured world… this one seemed a scattered dream-scape filled with surreal characters. Many Zims in many scenes were happy and the predominant colors were orange and yellow. Occasionally, there were Girs hopping about and in others, unrecognizable Irkens… even a few malformed Dibs could be seen frolicking about such as the one overhead riding on the back of space piggies with Zim drinking a suck monkey.

"Hey… this isn't so bad… wait a minute… these are all stupid things to be happy about!" Zim exclaimed, crossing his arms in protest. "Oh come on!" He growled, gesturing to one. "And shouldn't I be killing you here?" he pointed to another. "This makes no sense!"

"Wow… maybe these are the things that actually make you happy that you're ashamed of." Dib stated, looking at a depiction of his sister playing for his life with Zim transmitting from a screen, like that one time he'd made a nano-ship to invade Dib's brain.

A laugh brought his attention back to Zim, who'd backed into a corner and was being confronted by a somewhat normally structured Gir.

"Aaawwww…. Look who's ticklish!"

"No Gir, ssssto… Ahahah!" Zim giggled uncontrollably as his minion 'coochy cooed' away. Dib quirked his head at the scene as the world wiped away around him, once again becoming black nothingness.

Overhead, the pictures hung again…

The first was of Zim with a look of terror as Tak descended upon his broken base with Mimi in cat disguise decapitating his little robot minion.

The second showed Dib, his sister, Zim's minion and the alien himself all taking a stand against Tak and her Sir in the Delicious Weenie Corps building.

The final showed Zim telling his leaders of the event with a thought bubble of the four of them standing triumphantly together mid high-five.

"Really?" Dib wondered, not remembering that high-five.

"We did great!" he suddenly heard from behind him, whipping around to see a yellow doused Zim grinning at him happily with an excited hum. "Earth's mine and I'd hate to see anyone else dooming it! It's good to know that I can count on you to help me protect it in a pinch!"

Dib looked skeptically at the happy invader.

"I've saved it before, you know… One time, some other aliens came and tried to throw it into their sun! I sure showed them!" The alien beamed.

"Zim… earth's protector. Why am I not convinced?" Dib deadpanned as the light clapped off.

A bit more apprehensive this time, Zim darted his eyes about the darkness. "There's no telling what will be next… we have to get you out of here!"

Another clap in the distance and a red light poured forth… the others appeared as well, slowly ambling about, but the red one shot forward and saturated Zim full force.

Having covered himself to brace for impact, Zim slowly lifted his hands from cowering and came to a full stand as the other lights finally caught up to him.

This time they fell into the cockpit of a waiting battle mech decked out in fiery red hues. Outside the glass… several Irkens ran in fear, scattering away from the machine.

"I wonder what they're all running fro…" Suddenly, the craft jostled and Dib went careening into the glass with a violent smack! Behind him, he could hear cackling from his alien nemesis.

"Zim! What are you doing?" Dib yelped, jumping to his feet in time to see Zim's feral grin as he piloted the machine. Behind him, the sky was lit by beams of destruction emanating from the mech. "Aren't those your own people?"

**"Enemies, Dib… my enemies! They turned their backs on me… all of them! Now they will pay for laughing at Zim!"** He exclaimed, pitching the mech forward and sending Dib into the glass dome once more.

This time the boundary shattered, leaving Dib to fall backwards into the destruction. Landing with a horrible thud, Dib coughed roughly to regain the wind he'd lost. He made out the fleeing Irkens who scattered around him, their faces ever shifting and changing… sometimes into humans he recognized as the bullying type from school.

Just then, a shadow eclipsed the sky and the heavy foot of the mech came crashing down at him quickly. Dib shut his eyes and held his hands up to shield himself then all fell silent.

Dib opened one eye experimentally to see many more than three images hanging in front of him, each one bedecked with some sort of chaos or explosion.

"Wow Zim!" Dib exclaimed, oblivious to the red clad invader advancing behind him on spindly spider legs. "It's like a montage of hate!" he gasped, taking it all in as Zim paused just inches from him.

**"They all deserved it!"** the alien yelled by Dib's ear, sending the boy spinning to the ground in shock. **"Every single one of them… all worthy of Zim's wrath!**" he growled as he spidered his way to the pictures, glaring from one to the next. "But not even fear could force them to respect me…" Zim sighed out as the red light snapped itself off and the pictures faded from view.

Zim turned his head to look at Dib, who shuffled away from him on the black floor.

"Afraid of me yet?" Zim asked, clasping his hands behind his back and walking up to the human.

With a shiver of nervousness and against his better judgment, Dib didn't back away. Zim sighed and held out his hand to the youth, which was taken reluctantly as Dib felt himself pulled to his feet.

"That was…." Dib gasped, looking at the grimacing grey Zim in front of him.

"I prefer not to remember… but your being here is making that difficult." Zim sighed, rubbing his temples. "I can only imagine the kind of permanent damage all of this… remembering… is going to have on me..."

Another series of lights snapped on in the darkness, earning a groan from monochromatic Zim. "I really don't know how much more of this my psyche can take." He stated to Dib as the colors once again rushed over him.

"You really could destroy me this time!" Full palate Zim yelled as the two were plunged into yet another scene.

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><p><strong>Ooh! And you know what? There's only one more chapter left! That's right... this fic is drawing to a close next week so make sure to check back for the finale! <strong>

**I'v****e really had fun doing this! It's been a great little distraction for me these past few weeks... shortly I will be leaving the USA and going to live in New Zealand where I don't plan on having much time to write anymore... but maybe I can squeeze out another fic before I go... I have half a dozen drafts saved on my pc.. it's all a matter of finishing one in time. I'll see if I can't get some work done in the ficcing department this week... **

**Till next time readers!  
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	4. Colors of the Mind

**Psyche**

**Yay! We made it! **

**Epic boss battle time!**

**Are you ready? Well, PREPARE YOURSELVES!**

**Disclaimer: "I haven't got a bean, but my shoes are clean..."**

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><p><strong>Last time...<strong>_  
><em>

_"You really could destroy me this time!" Full palate Zim yelled as the two were plunged into yet another scene._

_**And now, the continuation..**_

**Colors of the Mind**

Dib 'oofed' a landing, looking around swiftly to take in the new scene only to find himself back in Zim's base… the two of them standing in front of his overly large computer monitor… just as they'd been before he'd even jumped into Zim's mind.

"Hey… we're back!" Dib yelped happily. "Zim?" he asked, turning to look at the Irken who was grinning at his enemy despite himself. Just then, the screen buzzed to life… depicting Zim's two very tall leaders as they loomed over him. Zim looked to them reverently, immediately snapping to attention and addressing them with nothing but respect and admiration.

"My Tallest, sirs! To what do I owe the pleasure of this unscheduled call? You must be excited to see my next greatest plan to take over the earth and enslave the humans, yes?" Zim enthused like a child wishing to impress its parents.

"No, Zim…" the tall red one deadpanned.

"You know why we don't call you…" the purple one stated, mouth full of pastries.

"What? What is this?" Zim almost whimpered.

"Oh come on Zim, this is about your 'mission' we've said it… right out in front of you even, but you were just too stupid to notice." The red one growled.

"We're talking about Zim's fake mission, right?" The purple one chimed in.

"Yes… his banishment." Red stated.

"Yeah!" the other one scoffed through a food filled mouth. "Like we would just let you quit being banished!"

"You mean Zim's mission… he's not really here to take over the earth?" Dib enthused, leaping to the front of the display.

"Yes enormously large headed kid!" the red one pointed. "Zim's mission is a sham… it's all just fake! Fake! Fake! Fake! Fake!" the purple one started chiming in and Dib looked over at Zim.

The tiny Irken was shivering, fists at his head as he curled into a fetal position upon the cold tile floors. The Tallest seemed to suddenly break the borders of their display, looming over him in person. As they continued to chant, the world fell away into darkness and eventually so did they leaving Zim, still in color, but broken on the floor.

"No…" he breathed, fists quivering at the sided of his head. **"They're lying!"** he said, his voice trembling wildly. **"Yes… it's just a test… a test to prove that I'm a worthy Invader…"** he shook, coming to is feet. **"Well, I'll show them… I am ZIM!"** He screamed, thrusting his hands overhead.

Dib leapt back in surprise. At first, he thought it was just the weird dreaminess of this place, but now it was obvious that Zim was getting bigger! He kept all his original proportions, but in only a few seconds the invader loomed over everything.

The roof of the darkness seemed to break away, revealing the world outside… all city and skyscrapers lit by an eerie red sunset. Zim's manic laugh echoed off into the distance as numerous grey wires and tubing began to snake about all around him and race to cover everything in sight.

**"I'm amazing! Just look at me!"** Zim's hubris spouted.** "You should feel honored to be in the presence of Zim!"**

"That's it!" Suddenly, Zim's problem snapped in Dib's brain and he knew what he had to do. "He really is insane and I'm looking right at the problem! If I can defeat his megalomania then…" Dib steadied himself as a footstep from the oversized Zim rattled the ground.

"You're not getting away from me, Zim!" Dib yelled, following the giant as it climbed the one remaining structure of the world… Zim's twisted insane house.  
><strong>"Hah! None can stand up to the might of Zim!"<strong> He exclaimed from atop his base.

"Well I'm here to knock you down from that high horse!" Dib exclaimed as he dashed into the tube infested yard.

**"What is this horse you speak of?"** Zim barked out as he pointed to Dib, sending a slew of cords to swipe at him from afar. With quick dodging power, Dib dashed away from the onslaught, landing in front of the structure.

Underfoot, the surface of the cables he was standing on grew red hot. **"Ewww… don't forget about my perimeter defense eheheheh!"**

Dib leapt away just in time as beams from the buried lawn gnomes erupted into the red sky. "I have to get up to the roof somehow!"

**"Aahahahahahahaha! Take that!"** Dib heard as a cord swiped low to attack him. At first he was like… but then a look of determination crossed his face and with a 'hiyah!' Dib leapt over the attack and ran up the length of the cord, lunging towards the building as another swiped down at him.

**"Hah! I am unbeatable!"**

Grasping on to the second level window sill, Dib was able to shift himself just in time to miss an incoming wire that gouged deeply into the house and got stuck there. Taking advantage of the situation, Dib ran up the exposed wire and grabbed on to the base of the roof, pulling himself up and scrambling towards the top.

**"Hmm? Hey! Go away!"** Zim snapped, directing another cord to attack the human.

"Not a chance Zim, you're going down!" Dib yelped as he ran directly towards his foe trailing a slew of pursuing cords. "Wah!" Dib yelped as he leapt at the somewhat surprised looking Zim. When he didn't budge the over-sized Irken laughed.

**"Hah, Dib! Did you really think you could…Aaaaugh!"** Zim snapped as the cords barreled into him, knocking him to the edge of the roof where he teetered dangerously for a moment as Dib hopped off and gave the last push.

**"Aaaaaaaaaaahhhh…."** Zim yelled all the way down, landing with an 'oof!' at the base of the … base.

All around, the cords seemed to loose and pull back into where they'd come from… leaving behind an un-wreaked world that stood as tall as it once had before the gigantic Zim had conquered it. Even Zim's base seemed to melt into the scene, leaving Dib back on the ground level where he saw a normal sized Zim begin to sit up.

Dib suddenly felt himself being pulled backwards… "Huh?" he snapped in surprise as he was ejected from the alien's cranium in a whirlwind of energy.

**INT: ZIMS BASE**

Dib landed hard on his tail bone, wincing with an 'erh' before pulling himself off the ground. In front of him, the door to Zim's head fell away, rattling as it hit the floor. The alien blinked his eyes a few times in succession before catching sight of his nemesis, making him furrow his brow in contemplation.

"Wow!" Dib snapped, snatching up the door from off the floor. "You've got some crazy things locked away in that head of yours, Zim!" At Zim's sobering expression, Dib stopped prancing about and removed the finger he'd jabbed at Zim's cranium in celebration of surviving the whole ordeal, letting his toothy grin slide away.

"Uhm… Dib? I think we should talk…"

**FIN**

**Dib's presence unwittingly dredged up all of Zim's dark secrets… ending his disillusionment and Dib's defeating Zim's megalomania leaves Zim free to sanely assess his situation and decide that he enjoys being on earth and joins with Dib to be its protector. The end! There were a lot of references to alt media in this piece such as the trial, the show's opening and the nick magazine comic bit where Zim took over the world and went off flying on space piggies with Dib. Also, if you haven't played Psychonauts… you owe it to yourself as a fan of this genre to go play the crap out of it right now! **

**Anywho... That shall be it for nows! Thanks to everyone who stayed with me for this thingy! It's all done... yous can go home now.. buhbuy g'bye bye!  
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